Marking is the crunch. You're a well-educated, caring, supportive tutor. You have the best interests of your students at the forefront of your attention. And then you have to put a number or a grade on their work. In doing so, you will directly affect whether they can take the subjects they want next year; whether they pass to the next year; whether or not they graduate.
You may have to plan the assessment, to write the examination paper or project specification or assignment brief. You will certainly have to mark and grade.
What will this "first word" try to do?
It will try to familiarise you with the basic principles of setting and marking student work (summative assessment, in the jargon). It should help you to work with marking schemes devised by others and, where necessary, to clarify these, or even devise marking schemes of your own. In addition it should assist you in developing a little confidence in your ability to assess in a rigorous and professional way.
Problems with marking and grading
Most lecturers would rather be doing research than assessing. Some would rather be cleaning out drains.
Why this reluctance? Perhaps lecturers know that assessment shows something about how well they have taught, as well as how well their students have learned. Several times here, we suggest asking colleagues for advice on aspects of assessment. You may need to persist to get the answers you need!
Some basics of summative assessment
What is good summative assessment?
Good summative assessment is valid -- that is, it tests the learning outcomes of the module. So make sure that the assessment tasks you set do this. It is also reliable -- that is, different assessors would give the same piece of work the same or similar marks. The best way to make assessment reliable is to have clear learning outcomes ("first word" 3.3), clear assessment criteria ("first word" 3.4), a clear marking scheme or model answer, and conversations among staff about assessment and standards.
Other qualities can be suggested for good summative assessment: completeness -- does it test each of the main module learning outcomes?
value -- do students value the work they produce for assessment?
fairness -- would the students describe the assessment as fair?
Scales and standards
At Brookes the marking scale is?
The real question, of course, is 'what does each of these grades mean, in terms of the nature, quality, maybe quantity, of work?' In other words, what are the assessment criteria? There should be some published guidance on this in your school, or for your module. You need to get hold of this guidance.
Sometimes, you may be told what the distribution of marks or grades should be -- roughly what proportion of scripts should fall into each mark or grade band. This isn't a very good way to define standards, mainly because of course it doesn't define standards -- it just relates how well this student is doing to the class average. Better to use some absolute standard, however imperfect.
What is your role in marking?
Will someone else also mark the work? If so, how will any differences between their mark and yours be reconciled?
Are you expected to make comments on the report or script? Who will see these comments?
Will you be required to attend the assessment board, and perhaps defend your marking?
How will you approach the marking?
You could start marking by giving an overall mark to a piece of work, based on an overall impression, and then do a detailed analysis against the marking scheme.
Alternatively you could start in a more analytic way, awarding marks for each part of the answer according to a marking scheme, and then seeing if the resultant overall mark feels right.
Whichever way round you mark, you know you are getting better at marking when your impressionistic and analytic marks start to agree.
Subject differences
You will need to adapt what is said here to the particular needs of your subject. Marking practices vary a lot among subjects. For example, science and engineering may have more precise and analytic marking schemes than arts subjects.
Seek help
Ask for help and advice from more experienced colleagues about marking. They may find your questions uncomfortable. Their answers may not be as clear or helpful as you�d like. Ask anyway. Keep asking.
Marking schemes
A marking scheme shows how marks are allocated. There may well be a marking scheme for an examination. If you are setting the examination you will have to devise one. There are less likely to be marking schemes for coursework -- again, you'll need to create one. Writing a marking scheme is a very good way to clarify what you expect of students.
Grades
are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters (for example, A, B, C, D, or F), as a range (for example 4.0 - 1.0), as descriptors (excellent, great, satisfactory, needs improvement), in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary institutions, as a Grade Point Average (GPA). The GPA can be used by potential employers or further post-secondary institutions to assess and compare applicants. A Cumulative Grade Point Average is the mean GPA from all academic terms within a given academic year, whereas the GPA may only refer to one term.
CBSE Grading System : Operational Modalities
1. The student’s performance shall be assessed using conventional method of numerical marking.
2. The ‘Grades’ shall be awarded to indicate the subject wise performance.
3. The ‘Grades’ shall be awarded on a nine point scale as per Table
4. Only Subject wise grades shall be shown in the “Statement of Subject wise Performance” to be issued to all candidates.
5. Subject-wise percentile score/rank at the National level shall be provided to the schools on demand.
6. The practice of declaring Compartment/ Fail shall be discontinued.
7. Those candidates who obtain the qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of Studies shall be awarded a Qualifying Certificate.
8. Those candidates who have obtained grade E1 or E2 in the subject shall have to improve their performance through subsequent five attempts.
For example, a candidate who appeared in Board’s examination in March 2010 can appear in July 2010, March 2011, July 2011, March 2012 and July 2012 only in subjects in which he/she has got grade E1 or E2 till he/she gets qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of Studies and becomes eligible for award of Qualifying Certificate.
9. Those who get Qualifying Certificates shall be eligible for admission in higher classes.
10. Those candidates who are not able to get qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of
Studies shall not be permitted for admission in Class XI.
11. Exemptions available to differently abled students as per CBSE’s rule shall continue to apply
12. The scheme shall also be applicable mutatis mutandis in the assessment of academic performance communicated to the students at the
end of Class IX
Grading or marking student work
Introduction
Marking is the crunch. You're a well-educated, caring, supportive tutor. You have the best interests of your students at the forefront of your attention. And then you have to put a number or a grade on their work. In doing so, you will directly affect whether they can take the subjects they want next year; whether they pass to the next year; whether or not they graduate.You may have to plan the assessment, to write the examination paper or project specification or assignment brief. You will certainly have to mark and grade.
What will this "first word" try to do?
It will try to familiarise you with the basic principles of setting and marking student work (summative assessment, in the jargon). It should help you to work with marking schemes devised by others and, where necessary, to clarify these, or even devise marking schemes of your own. In addition it should assist you in developing a little confidence in your ability to assess in a rigorous and professional way.Problems with marking and grading
Most lecturers would rather be doing research than assessing. Some would rather be cleaning out drains.Why this reluctance? Perhaps lecturers know that assessment shows something about how well they have taught, as well as how well their students have learned. Several times here, we suggest asking colleagues for advice on aspects of assessment. You may need to persist to get the answers you need!
Some basics of summative assessment
What is good summative assessment?
Good summative assessment is valid -- that is, it tests the learning outcomes of the module. So make sure that the assessment tasks you set do this. It is also reliable -- that is, different assessors would give the same piece of work the same or similar marks. The best way to make assessment reliable is to have clear learning outcomes ("first word" 3.3), clear assessment criteria ("first word" 3.4), a clear marking scheme or model answer, and conversations among staff about assessment and standards.Other qualities can be suggested for good summative assessment: completeness -- does it test each of the main module learning outcomes?
Scales and standards
At Brookes the marking scale is?The real question, of course, is 'what does each of these grades mean, in terms of the nature, quality, maybe quantity, of work?' In other words, what are the assessment criteria? There should be some published guidance on this in your school, or for your module. You need to get hold of this guidance.
Sometimes, you may be told what the distribution of marks or grades should be -- roughly what proportion of scripts should fall into each mark or grade band. This isn't a very good way to define standards, mainly because of course it doesn't define standards -- it just relates how well this student is doing to the class average. Better to use some absolute standard, however imperfect.
What is your role in marking?
Will someone else also mark the work? If so, how will any differences between their mark and yours be reconciled?Are you expected to make comments on the report or script? Who will see these comments?
Will you be required to attend the assessment board, and perhaps defend your marking?
How will you approach the marking?
You could start marking by giving an overall mark to a piece of work, based on an overall impression, and then do a detailed analysis against the marking scheme.Alternatively you could start in a more analytic way, awarding marks for each part of the answer according to a marking scheme, and then seeing if the resultant overall mark feels right.
Whichever way round you mark, you know you are getting better at marking when your impressionistic and analytic marks start to agree.
Subject differences
You will need to adapt what is said here to the particular needs of your subject. Marking practices vary a lot among subjects. For example, science and engineering may have more precise and analytic marking schemes than arts subjects.Seek help
Ask for help and advice from more experienced colleagues about marking. They may find your questions uncomfortable. Their answers may not be as clear or helpful as you�d like. Ask anyway. Keep asking.Marking schemes
A marking scheme shows how marks are allocated. There may well be a marking scheme for an examination. If you are setting the examination you will have to devise one. There are less likely to be marking schemes for coursework -- again, you'll need to create one. Writing a marking scheme is a very good way to clarify what you expect of students.Grades
are standardized measurements of varying levels of comprehension within a subject area. Grades can be assigned in letters (for example, A, B, C, D, or F), as a range (for example 4.0 - 1.0), as descriptors (excellent, great, satisfactory, needs improvement), in percentages, or, as is common in some post-secondary institutions, as a Grade Point Average (GPA). The GPA can be used by potential employers or further post-secondary institutions to assess and compare applicants. A Cumulative Grade Point Average is the mean GPA from all academic terms within a given academic year, whereas the GPA may only refer to one term.
CBSE Grading System : Operational Modalities
1. The student’s performance shall be assessed using conventional method of numerical marking.2. The ‘Grades’ shall be awarded to indicate the subject wise performance.
3. The ‘Grades’ shall be awarded on a nine point scale as per Table
4. Only Subject wise grades shall be shown in the “Statement of Subject wise Performance” to be issued to all candidates.
5. Subject-wise percentile score/rank at the National level shall be provided to the schools on demand.
6. The practice of declaring Compartment/ Fail shall be discontinued.
7. Those candidates who obtain the qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of Studies shall be awarded a Qualifying Certificate.
8. Those candidates who have obtained grade E1 or E2 in the subject shall have to improve their performance through subsequent five attempts.
For example, a candidate who appeared in Board’s examination in March 2010 can appear in July 2010, March 2011, July 2011, March 2012 and July 2012 only in subjects in which he/she has got grade E1 or E2 till he/she gets qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of Studies and becomes eligible for award of Qualifying Certificate.
9. Those who get Qualifying Certificates shall be eligible for admission in higher classes.
10. Those candidates who are not able to get qualifying grades (D and above) in all the subjects excluding Additional subject as per Scheme of
Studies shall not be permitted for admission in Class XI.
11. Exemptions available to differently abled students as per CBSE’s rule shall continue to apply
12. The scheme shall also be applicable mutatis mutandis in the assessment of academic performance communicated to the students at the
end of Class IX
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